State Farm

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the #1 provider of auto insurance in the U.S., the leading US personal property/casualty insurance company (by premiums), and the leading home insurer. It also offers nonmedical health and life insurance through its subsidiary companies. It has 17,000 agents in the U.S. and Canada. It also has a federal savings bank charter (State Farm Bank) that offers consumer and business loans through its agents and by phone, mail, and the Internet. Top competitors are Progressive Corporation, Allstate, and GEICO.

The Illinois-based State Farm had a net income in 2010 of $1.8 billion, up from $777 million in 2009. Its CEO, Ed Rust, was paid $10.2 million in the same year.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council
State Farm is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Roland Spies, General Counsel at State Farm, represents the company on the corporate ("Private Enterprise") board of ALEC as of 2011. Emory Wilkerson, Lead Counsel and Managing Attorney at State Farm, represents the company on ALEC's Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force as of 2011.

Political Contributions and Lobbying
State Farm spent $3.62 million on lobbying activities in 2010. A list of its lobbyists and lobbying firms can be found HERE. The list of bills State Farm lobbied on can be found HERE.

Open Secrets latest information about State Farm is from 2008. That year, State Farm gave a combined total of $4.1 million in federal and state political contributions.

Since 2000, CEO Edward Rust has given over $50,000 to political campaigns.

Ad boycott against Air America Radio
State Farm refused to advertise on the progressive Air America Radio. In October 2006, around 90 companies, including State Farm, told ABC Radio Networks that they did not want their ads to play on radio stations that carried Air America Radio.

Hurricane Katrina
Open Secrets wrote in September 2008: "in the three years after Hurricane Katrina, which was the insurance industry's single largest insured loss ever, according to the New York Times, insurance companies have had to defend themselves both in court and on Capitol Hill. Congress ordered an investigation into whether major companies, including State Farm and Nationwide, shirked financial responsibility by declaring that flooding, rather than wind, caused the damage to many homes (many private insurance policies don't cover flood damage, unbeknownst to their policyholders)."

Senator Trent Lott sued State Farm over Katrina damage
Former U.S. Senator Trent Lott (R-Mississippi), the number two Republican in the Senate, sued State Farm and has since settled with the company over the loss of his house to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Lott continued his fight with the insurance industry in the Senate. He calls the industry "mean-spirited" and "arrogant" and criticizes the executive pay and profits within the industry.

Personnel
Key executives (2011)
 * Edward B. Rust, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
 * Michael Davidson, Vice Chairman and Chief Agency and Marketing Officer
 * James Rutrough, Vice Chairman and Chief Administrative Officer

Board of Directors (2011):
 * Dan E. Arvizu - Director, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
 * Gerald M. Czarnecki - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Deltennium Corporation
 * Michael C. Davidson - Vice Chairman and Chief Agency and Marketing Officer, State Farm Mutual
 * Christopher C. DeMuth – D.C. Searle Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
 * W. H. Knight Jr. – Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law
 * Judith A. Muhlberg – Consultant on Strategic Communications, Gagen MacDonald LLC
 * Susan M. Phillips - Dean, School of Business, George Washington University
 * Edward B. Rust Jr. - Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, State Farm Mutual
 * James E. Rutrough - Vice Chairman and Chief Administrative Officer, State Farm Mutual
 * Paul T. Stecko - Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Packaging Corporation of America
 * Pamela B. Strobel - Former Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, Exelon Corporation
 * Michael L. Tipsord - Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer, State Farm Mutual
 * John D. Zeglis - Former Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, AT&T Wireless

Contact details
1 State Farm Plaza Bloomington, IL 61710 Phone: 309-766-2311 Fax: 309-766-3621 Web: http://www.statefarm.com

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Hurricane Katrina
 * Insurance industry

External articles

 * Anita Lee, "State Farm refusing appraisal, despite its own policy language", Mississippi Sun-Herald/CorpWatch, May 23, 2006.
 * Drew Griffin and Kathleen Johnston, "Auto insurers play hardball in minor-crash claims", CNN, February 9, 2007.
 * JOSEPH B. TREASTER, State Farm Settles Katrina Claims in Mississippi, NY Times, Jan 23, 2007, accessed July 10, 2011.
 * Ryan Denham, How State Farm fought through the second storm, Pantagraph, Aug 22, 2010.